Five most-wanted suspects confirmed dead in four-day Dammam raid

The Ministry of Interior today issued details about the recent Eastern Province security operation that lasted four days. The incident began on Sunday, September 4, in front of a commercial center in the city of Dammam and ended on Wednesday evening, September 7 in a residential area. In the ongoing exchange of fire, five members of the deviant group were killed. All five were Saudi nationals, and on the list of 36 most-wanted published on June 28, 2005: Zaid Saad Zaid Alsammari, 31; Salih Mansour Mohsin Alfiraidi Alharbi, 22; Sultan Salih Hosan Alhasri, 26; Naif Farhan Jalal Aljihaishi Alshammari, 24; and Mohammed Abdulrahman Alsuwailmi, 23. Four security officers were killed; many others were wounded, most of them later discharged from hospital.

Security forces had been alerted to the fact that certain members of the deviant group had used forged documents to rent a house in the densely-populated district of Al-Mubarakiya in the city of Dammam in the Eastern Province. When asked to surrender, the militants resisted. Taking the necessary measures to ensure the safety of the residents of the six units in the area, the security forces surrounded the building in which the suspects were hiding.

Found at the site were ammunition, explosives and weapons, including machine guns, pistols, hand grenades, and pipe bombs, as well as a truck, telecommunication and photography equipment, and forged documents. A total of eleven persons of various nationalities were arrested under suspicion of involvement in the incident.

In its statement, the Interior Ministry expressed appreciation for the cooperation of citizens and residents at the site of the incident, commenting that the cooperation and sense of responsibility shown ensured their safety and enabled the security forces to successfully confront the deviant group.

This press release from the Saudi Embassy in Washington notes that the five killed in the raid were all on the current most-wanted list of 36. To see how well the Saudis are doing in tracking down the ones they have identified as terrorists (or Al-Qaeda “deviants” in the local vernacular), see the graphic at Security Watchtower. (Thanks to Winds of Change for the pointer.)

The Arab News, provides further details in identifying those killed, including what activities got them on the most-wanted list in the first place.